Conveyer



Jan. 25, 1955 D. BURBIDGE ET AL CONVEYER 2 Shets-Sheet 1 File d March12. 1953 wa ww ,6

Jan. 25, 1955 'A. D. BYUIRBIDGE ETAL 2,700,453

' CONVEYER Fiied March 12, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 62 d8 ZENVEZTQRS.

*Jzw'id z United States. Patent CONVEYER Arden D.. Burbi'dge, ParkRiver,and Julius M.- Hetland, Fargo, N. Dak.

Application March 12, 1953', S'eria'l'No. 341,966

10* (Claims; (Cl. 198-485) This invention relates to; a conveyor andmore particularly to a conveyor whichis adapted foruse in a sortingoperation.

Many present day businesses involve a sorting operation of one kind oranother, in which alarge quantity ofi objects are sorted orgradedon. thebasis of one or more of their characteristics; For example, vegetablesand fruits must be sorted from undesired objects such as. clods of dirt,stones, rocks and the like and are generally. graded on'the basis ofsize. Many manufacturing procedures involve a sorting operation based onone or more of the characteristics of the manufactured object.Generally, these sorting and grading operations are carried on by movingthe objects past one or. more: sorting or grading points on aconveyor ofsome sort. Means are: provided for removing selected objects. from theconveyor either at the sorting point or at some other predeterminedpoint. These meansmay takevariousforms; for example, a stream of air,may be. used to blow the selected objects from the: conveyor or arm maybe employed tov push the selected objects from the conveyor. Thisinvention is concerned with a new conveyor structure made up of, a.plurality of members; which maybe released to drop: the. selectedobjects from theconveyor;

One featureof this conveyor is that it includes a moving element, aplurality of releasable members carried by the moving' element andadapted to support articles, means for releasing only selected? membersto drop; the: articles carried thereby and means for returning; thereleased members to their original position. Another. feature is thatthereleasable members. are fingers pivotally: carried onthemoving elementand each having an elongated portion normally extending substantiallyhorizontally and a base portion having a. slot therein adapted: toreceive the pivot on; the moving. element and in which the releasingmeans effects transl'atory movement of; the sl'otted' portion relative.to the pivot whereby the: finger member.- rotated about the pivot and-1hangs freely; A. further featureis: that' a bracket is: attached tot-he. moving element. andv carriesr'the pivotwhichsupports the fingermembers. And another feature is that the: fingers are; normally carriedon the'pivot' with the.

elongated.pontion extending. substantially horizontally and With-thebase portion bearing against the bracket. And as fiurther feature isthat an inclined rail is provided beneath the tips. of. the fingers atthe point of release for controlling the rate of fall of the releasedfingers.

Further'features and advantages of our invention will be apparent fromthe specification and drawings, in which;

Figure lis a side elevational view ofa conveyor embodyin'g ourinvention;

Figure 2 is a topplan view of the conveyor of Figure 1;

Figure; 3 is. a: fragmentary top plan View of: a portion ofi'the'conveyor;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 oft-Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5'-'5 ofi Figure 3L Inthe particular embodiment illustrated, and referring now to- Figures 1and 2, the conveyor is supported on aL'framework made up of base membersand 11 and uprights 12, 13*, 14v and 15 which are disposed in pairsateither" end of the base'members; The: upper ends of the uprights arebraced by longitudinal members-115 and 2,700,453 Patented Ja m 25, 1955ice 17 which extend. between uprights: 1-2: and- 13,. and. 14 and 15,respectively, and. which are: preferably la-shaped; An: axle 18' isjournalled on uprights 1 2 and- 14 and carries a pair of. spaced,toothed. wheels; 19 and 20, keyed thereto- Anaxle 23 journalled onuprights 1-3 and: 153 carries. a second pair of. spaced,,toothed wheels24 and 25-.

A pair of endlessschainsi 26% and 27 are' supported by corresponding.wheels at either endv of the: structure; wheels 19 and: 2.4 supporting;chain 26 and. wheels- 20 and ZSsupporting chain 27 Thechains 26 and 27form the basis of the conveyor and. preferably lie: along: thehorizontal portion: 161: and; 1-7a,, respectively, of. the longitudinalmembers: 16 and 17.

A drive shaft 28 is. journalled; on: theupright; 14- and carries a spurgear 29 Whichengages the gear:30. mounted on! wheel 20. A source of.rotary, power (not: shown), turns. the drive shaft 28:and through thegears 29'and30 drives the wheels.19 andi20-. This motionis transmittedto the linkchains 26 and 27 which move in a clockwise path as seen; in.Figure; l.

The link chains 26 and 27 are of any suitableztype and are preferablymade up. of a series of pivotally interconnected plates 33; Secured. toalternate: plates are U-shaped brackets 34,, held. in place by means; ofscrews 35 (Figure 3). These brackets aremountedi on facing. edges of thetwo chains. 26: and; 27 and: eaclt one extends substantially the: lengthof an individual side plate 33'. Garried between. the. extending arms3.4a. of the Ushaped brackets 3.4=is a pivot member 36.. Carriedon-this-pivot' member are two releasable: finger. members 37.- separatedby a: spacer 38..

As. may, best. be seen" in. Figures 4-- and 5;. fingers. 37 have; anelongated portion 37a and. an. enlarged? base portion 37b. substantiallyat right angles thereto. The

base portion 3712 has a slot 39 therein, adaptedztoyreceive the-pivot;36': When: the fingers. are. in normalconveyor position, Figure5,.tl1e-pivot 3.6:is:at;the:top' 39a ofthe slot 39 and the lower.portion. 31c: of: the base 37b of the finger bears; against the: bracket34', maintaining. the elongated: portion 37a of. the finger: in anoutwardly. dis posed or substantially horizontal attitude; The. distancefromrthepivot 3.6' to the bracket: 34' must be less than the: distancefrom the top 39a of? the: slot39. to the.bot+ tom 37d of the baseportion of the finger so that" the bflSGr'POlfiOIl will contact. thebracket and maintain. the finger in. the desired position. The elongatedportionstof the fingers carried by the two: link chains 26. and127extend inwardly from the chaihs, toward each. other and form atsubstantially: complete surface for supporting the. articles to be?carried by the conveyor; Preferably: the dimensions ofthebracket34,.pivot 36,.base': portion" 375. and slot 39 are so related that. theelongated. portions 37a. of the fingers incline slightly downwardly:toward the: center oh the conveyor to facilitate. centeringof theobjects canrieda thereon.

The tripping operation by means of which. certain of the articlescarried by the conveyor-may be sorted from: the: other articles carriedthereby iszac'complishedin the followingmanner; As may beseenain'Figures 1' and 2', a tripping wheel 42. ispivotally carried atone end of a centrally mounted? lever' arm 43: carried on thelongitudinal member I7. The tripping wheel. is so mounted that it isdirectly beneath the base portion 37b ofthe fingers 37 carried by chain:27 asthe conveyor moves along. A. similar tripping. wheel 44 and leverarm 45v are mounted under the fingerscarried; by the chain: 26, theother'side of the conveyor.

In order totripor release the selected fingers, meansare provided whichcause the tripping Wheels 42 and 44 to move upwardly, effectingtranslatory upward niove mentof thesl'otted portion 39aboutrthe'pivot36, as shownin broken lines in Figure 4. This allows theentire finger to turn about the pivot 36" and hang downwardl'y, as shownin full lines in Figure 4-. The distance from the pivot 36 to thebracket 34 must be greater'than the thicknessof the lower end of thebase 37b of'the finger, that is the. distance from the lower end' 395of'thesl'ot tothe bottonr 37'dof the: base, inord'er 'th'atithe. fingerwill. pivot properly and hang downwardly: articles carried by theselected finger at the time they are tripped or released may fall into areceptacle of any suitable sort placed beneath the conveyor or ontoanother conveyor or the like (not shown).

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, the lever arm43 has the core 46a of a solenoid 46 pivotally secured to the endthereof opposite the end at which the tripping wheel 42 is attached. Thesolenoid 46 is mounted on a bracket 47 suspended from the longitudinalmember 17. When the solenoid 46 is energized, the core thereof is pulleddownwardly causing the tripping wheel to be moved upwardly, eifectingupward translatory movement of the base portions 37!) of the fingers 37which pass over the wheel during the time it is raised; when thesolenoid is deenergized, the tripping wheel returns to its originalposition. The solenoid coil 46 may be energized from a source ofelectrical power (not shown) by the manual operation of a switch or byany suitable sorting control device. See for example, copending Burbidgeand Hetland application, Serial No. 333,096, filed January 26, 1953,which discloses an electronic sorting control circuit. A similarsolenoid control arrangement may be provided for the other trippingwheel 44-.

A pair of inclined rails 47 and 48 may be placed under the tips of thefingers carried by each of the chains 26 and 27 at the release point.These rails are inclined downwardly in the direction of travel of theconveyor and control the rate of fall of the tips of the releasedfingers. Their use is particularly advantageous to prevent a sudden dropof easily bruised articles such as fresh vegetables, fruit and the like.

Although this invention has been described in connection with a conveyorhaving only a single release point, it is to be understood that aplurality of release points may be provided along the length of theconveyor. For example, a sorting apparatus with a plurality of releasepoints would be used where articles were being graded into variousclassifications on the basis of size or color or the like; the articlesof one standard would be released at the first point, those of a secondstandard at a second point and so on.

In operation the articles to be sorted would be fed to the conveyor fromsuitable means such as a gravity feed hopper (not shown) at the left endthereof as viewed in Figures 1 and 2. The articles would be moved alongby the conveyor to the right in Figures 1 and 2 past the selection pointwhere the selected articles are dropped from the conveyor while thosearticles which are not selected would move on and fall from the end ofthe conveyor at the far right.

The chains 26 and 27 pass over the wheels 24 and 25 and then back underthe main run of the conveyor to the wheels 19 and 20. As the chains 26and 27 pass around the wheels 19 and 20 it is necessary to insure thatthe fingers 37 will return to their normal outwardly extending position,so as to form the surface of the conveyor. In order to accomplish this,a pair of curved guide rails 50 and 51 are provided. These guide railsare mounted on the base members 11 and have an upwardly extendingport-ion sea and 51a respectively which extends up wardly to a pointslightly above the lower edge of the wheels 19 and 2%. A second portion56b and 51b of the guide members extends gradually inwardly toward thecenter of the conveyor in a generally vertical plane to a point oppositethe horizontal axis of the wheels 19 and 20. A third portion 500 and 510extends on inwardly toward the center of the conveyor and generallyfollows the curvature of the wheels 19 and 20; while a fourth portion50d and 51d extends along the top of the tips of the fingers and followsthe curvature of the wheels 19 and 20. The guide rails 50 and 51 engagethe fingers 37 as they pass around the wheels 19 and 20 and cause themto return to their desired conveyor position. A pair of discs 52 and 53are mounted on the axle 18 and are of such a diameter that the tips ofthe fingers 37 rest on the peripheral edges of the discs as they arereturned to their normal conveyor position. This prevents the fingersfrom hanging downwardly as they return to the main run of the conveyorand insures that the base 37b of the fingers will assume its properrelationship with the pivot 36 and bracket 34.

In some instances, it will be desirable to cause all of the fingers 37to hang downwardly during the return run of the conveyor. Fingers whichhave not been released may do this automatically, while those which havebeen released will not do so, but rather will engage the bracket andextend outwardly during the return run. During many sorting operationsweeds, vines and the like may be mixed in with the articles being sortedand it is desirable to cause them to .be dropped from the conveyorduring the return run. In order that of all the fingers 37 will handdownwardly during the return run, a roller 54 is provided along thelower portion of the periphery of wheel 25. This roller is mounted on abracket 55 extending upwardly from the base member 11 and is sopositioned that it bears against the top of the base portion 37b of thefingers and causes them to move so that the pivot 36 is at the top ofthe slot 39. Thus, the fingers are free to hang downwardly during thereturn run. A similar roller may be provided adjacent the wheel 24.

While we have shown and described certain embodiments of our invention,it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications.Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdisclosed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: a moving element;means for driving said moving element; mounting means including a pivoton said moving element; a plurality of releasable fingers pivotallycarried by said mounting means, each finger having an elongated portionnormally extending substantially horizontally and a base portion havinga slot therein adapted to receive said pivot; and means for releasingonly selected fingers by effect-ing translatory movement of said slottedportion relative to said pivot whereby they rotate about said pivot andhang freely.

2. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: an endless movingelement; means for driving said moving element; mounting means includinga pivot on said moving element; a plurality of releasable fingerspivotally carried by said mounting means, each finger having anelongated portion normally extending substantially horizontally and abase portion having a slot therein adapted to receive said pivot; meansfor releasing only selected fingers by elfecting translatory movement ofsaid slotted portion relative to said pivot whereby they rotate aboutsaid pivot and hang freely; and guide means for returning said releasedmembers to their original position.

3. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: an endless linkchain; means for driving said chain; bracket means attached to the linksof said chain; pivot means carried by said brackets, parallel to andalongside each link; a plurality of spaced releasable finger memberspivotally mounted on said brackets, said finger members having anelongated portion normally extending substantially horizontally fromsaid links and a base portion havmg a slot therein to receive said pivotmeans, said base portion bearing against said bracket; camming meansoperable to move the base portion of selected finger members upwardlywhereby said selected finger members rotate about said pivot and hangfreely; and guide means for returning said selected finger member totheir normal position.

4. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: a pair of spacedparallel endless moving elements; means for driving said movingelements; mounting means including a pivot on the facing edges of bothof said moving elements; and a plurality of releasable fingers carriedby said mounting means, each finger having an elongated portion normallyextending substantially horizontally and a base portion having a slottherein adapted to receive said pivot; and means for releasing onlyselected fingers on both of said moving elements by effectingtranslatory movement of said slotted portion. relative to said pivotwhereby they rotate about said pivot and hang freely.

5. Apparatus of the character described in claim 4 in which the tips ofthe elongated portions of the fingers carried by one of the movingelements are adjacent the tips of the fingers carried by the othermoving element and said tips are below the level of the top of said baseportion.

6. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: a moving element;means for driving said moving element; mounting means including a pivoton said moving element; a plurality of releasable fingers pivotallycarried by said mounting means, each finger having an elongated portionnormally extending outwardly and a base portion having a slot thereinadapted to receive said pivot; means for releasing only selected fingersby effecting translatory movement of said slotted portion relative tosaid pivot whereby they rotate about said pivot and hang freely; andmeans for controlling the rate of fall of said released fingers.

7. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: an endless movingelement; means for driving said moving element; mounting means includinga pivot on said element; a plurality of releasable fingers pivotallycarried by said mounting means, each finger having an elongated portionnormally extending outwardly and a base portion having a slot thereinadapted to receive said pivot; means for releasing only selected fingerswhereby they rotate about said pivot and hang freely and an inclinedrail under the tips of the fingers at the point of release to controlthe rate of fall of said released fingers.

8. A conveyor of the character described, comprising: an endless linkchain; means for driving said chain; bracket means attached to the linksof said chain; pivot means carried by said brackets, parallel to andalongside each link; a plurality of spaced releasable finger memberspivotally mounted on said brackets, said finger members having anelongated portion normally extending substantially horizontally fromsaid links and a base portion having a slot therein to receive saidpivot means, said base portion bearing against said bracket; cammingmeans operable to move the base portion of selected finger membersupwardly whereby said selected finger members rotate about said pivotand hang freely; and an inclined rail under the tips of said fingers atthe point of release for controlling the rate of fall of said releasedfingers.

9. In an endless conveyor, releasable means of the character described,comprising: mounting means adapted to be attached to said conveyor andincluding a pivot; at least one releasable finger pivotally carried bysaid mounting means, said finger having an elongated portion normallyextending substantially horizontally and a base portion having a slottherein adapted to receive said pivot; and release means for effectingtranslatory movement of said slotted portion relative to said pivotwhereby said finger rotates about said pivot and hangs freely.

10. In an endless conveyor, releasable means of the character described,comprising: a bracket adapted to be attached to said conveyor; a pivotcarried by said bracket; at least one releasable finger member pivotallymounted on said bracket, said member having an elongated portionnormally extending substantially horizontally and a base portion havinga slot therein transverse of said elongated portion and adapted toreceive said pivot, said base portion bearing against said bracket; andrelease means for camming said base portion upwardly whereby said memberturns about said pivot and said elongated portion hangs freely.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,351,215 Olson Aug. 31, 1920 2,471,711 Altenpohl May 31, 1949 2,505,677Krupp Apr. 25, 1950 2,594,589 Runton Apr. 29, 1952

